On September 2nd, a report highlighted how a local enterprise in Changchun is breaking new ground in the field of embodied intelligent robots, showcasing the city's efforts to cultivate new quality productive forces through institutional and mechanism innovation.
With a soft beep, a robot named "Quality Inspector" completed a wiring harness test and automatically issued its inspection result. At the adjacent workstation, a veteran technician was manually inspecting the same type of harness item by item. After on-site公证 comparison, the human and machine both achieved a 100% accuracy rate, but the robot worked three times faster. This industrial inspection robot was developed by Jilin Jiyi Embodied Intelligence Robot Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Jiyi Intelligence").
Not long ago, the company launched its 2026 new product lineup at the Changchun New Area. The event featured a dual-robot matrix and the independently developed Z-1 embodied intelligence large model, demonstrating significant progress by a local Jilin company in this emerging sector.
Founded in August 2025, Jiyi Intelligence is led by Changchun Jieyi Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Jieyi Technology"). It was established jointly with the Jilin Provincial Industrial Technology Research Institute, Changchun Industrial Investment Group, Changchun New Area Industrial Investment Group, and other institutions. The company is a mixed-ownership enterprise focused on the R&D and manufacturing of complete embodied intelligent robots.
Prior to this, there was a notable gap in the complete robot manufacturing sector within Jilin Province. While the embodied intelligence industry is rapidly developing nationwide, Jilin Province—despite having advantages in industry, science, and education—had a development shortfall. Local factories seeking to upgrade automation equipment had to purchase components from first-tier cities and assemble them locally.
To address this industrial weakness, strategic planning was initiated from the top. For two consecutive years, Changchun has included the "robot industry" in its government work report. At the provincial level, the "15th Five-Year Plan" designates embodied intelligence as a key future industry for cultivation, with a planned investment scale of ten billion yuan, coordinating the development of a complete industrial chain from core components to complete robots.
The innovative allocation of production factors is critical to fostering new quality productive forces. In recent years, Changchun has prioritized institutional innovation, emphasizing enterprise leadership and empowerment. Jiyi Intelligence has a total share capital of 1.6 billion yuan, with parent company Jieyi Technology contributing 600 million yuan and provincial, municipal, and district-level investment groups contributing a combined 1 billion yuan. However, the three levels of government shareholders have not formed a united front.
State capital maintains a bottom-line supervisory role without interfering in business decisions, allowing the company to preserve the flexibility of private-sector leadership. This provides room for market-oriented talent recruitment and rapid decision-making. The flexible mechanism has accelerated talent acquisition, quickly building an R&D team of over 300 people.
The team's large model lead previously worked at the forefront of technology R&D both domestically and internationally. The company has established a collaborative R&D network across Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Changchun. With support from parent company Jieyi Technology, Jiyi Intelligence has also rapidly transferred patents, supply chain expertise, and hardware development experience.
The company's rapid development is supported by proactive services from provincial and municipal governments, which are working to unlock application scenarios. "Special work teams have been set up at both levels, meeting regularly to analyze challenges and collect feedback while mapping out open application scenarios to match supply and demand," said Feng Siming, Deputy General Manager of Jiyi Intelligence.
In June of this year, Jiyi Intelligence launched two self-developed robots simultaneously: "Quality Inspector" and "Xiaomu." The "Quality Inspector" is designed for industrial settings, with interchangeable end-effectors enabling inspection, handling, sorting, and patrol tasks. "Xiaomu" targets commercial service scenarios, such as self-checkout in pharmacies.
Feng Siming noted that the "Quality Inspector" has already been deployed in multiple Jieyi Technology factory sites for commissioning. "Xiaomu" has secured over 400 intended orders from a pharmacy chain, and the company is also advancing cooperation discussions with automakers such as FAW, BMW, and Volvo. By the end of this year, both robots are expected to be deployed in production workshops and pharmacies on a larger scale.
The government serves as a platform builder, state capital acts as a patient long-term investor, and enterprises are the main driving force. Building on its manufacturing foundation, Changchun is coordinating the roles of an effective government and an efficient market, promoting the transformation of state capital into long-term, strategic, and patient capital. This approach charts a distinctive path for an old industrial base to cultivate new quality productive forces.
"We are venturing into the blue ocean of future industries and activating the value of our existing industrial base. Let application scenarios become the soil for enterprise growth, and let enterprises become the engine for urban revitalization," said Wang Chao, Chairman of Jiyi Intelligence.